Founder connections
- Bill GatesFirst-person reading and recommendationGates’s February 4, 2013 review says he picked up Rosen’s book at the end of 2012. He recommends its account of cumulative invention, patents and measuring tools, while warning that it goes into considerable steam-engine detail.Source
Summary
William Rosen traces the development of steam power through the people, tools and ideas that helped create the Industrial Revolution. He argues that invention flourished where people could claim ownership of their ideas, and shows how many small technical advances accumulated into better engines. The book connects mechanical progress with its legal and social setting.
Why read it Our view
For founders improving a technical product, Rosen’s history offers a useful focus on small advances and the tools that make them visible. Gates highlights the book’s discussion of measuring changes in fuel use and power. It also invites a closer look at how rights in inventions affect incentives to develop and share them.